Immigration

"Our specialist immigration team cuts through the complexity and keeps you up to speed with advice and assistance on all aspects of UK immigration law."

Welcome to Immigration

Immigration law is not only complex, it is also constantly subject to change.

Busy employers need to be spending their time on growing their business or managing their organisation rather than studying the ins and outs of work or student visas.

However, with the Government increasingly putting the onus on employers to check the immigration status of their workforce and fines of up to £20,000 per illegal immigrant for companies and organisations which fail to do so, this is an issue which no-one can afford to ignore.

Our specialist immigration team cuts through the complexity and keeps you up to speed with advice and assistance on all aspects of UK immigration law.

We provide commercially-focused, timely legal support to employers of all sizes across a wide range of industries and sectors.

Combining employment expertise and the ability to deal with the authorities, we are uniquely placed to advise you on the full range of issues surrounding the employment of foreign workers whilst ensuring all relevant UK regulations are met.

Our team can provide assistance in a wide range of areas including:

Before recruitment

Advise on the merits of becoming a registered sponsor of migrant workers with the Home Office

Advise on the application procedure, eligibility, cost and timescale

Step-by-step guidance through the application process

Advise on the suitable type of application and visa

Provide advice and support throughout the application process

Prepare the application and supporting documentation for submission to the Home Office

Ensuring recruitment policies and procedures, offer letters and contracts of employment are in line with immigration requirements

Ensuring compliance whilst avoiding discrimination

Reviewing HR systems and processes and recommending actions for improvement

Where migrant workers are already employed

Ensuring you comply with your reporting duties

Advise on employees extending their visas

Advise when looking to promote an employee who is eligible to work in a specific role only

Assistance when a migrant worker wants to change employer

Assistance when a migrant worker wants to switch to a different visa category

Upskilling your staff

We can provide a bespoke training package to ensure the appropriate members of staff in your organisation are aware of and fully understand your company’s obligations and responsibilities under immigration legislation.

We canalso help on a practical level with advice on HR practices and procedures when it comes to non-UK workers and on potential race discrimination claims.

We are members of ILPA (the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association) and we also offer free initial consultations for visa applicants to consider their eligibility for a business visa and employers who are looking to become a sponsor or recruit staff from overseas.

For further details on how we can help you to negotiate the minefield of immigration legislation, please get in touch.

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What our clients say

"We were supported every step of the way, the advice was clear and detailed and provided promptly at every stage."

Ron Stower, Managing Director, Janome UK Ltd

"Ward Hadaway's experience and expertise was crucial to our success in obtaining our sponsor licence and made the application process much quicker and easier for our HR team."

Sarah Dewar, Resourcing Manager, Home Group

Flora Mewies has been extremely professional and very helpful throughout the whole application process. She thoroughly revised all the documents necessary and gave very detailed advice and recommendations regarding each and every aspect. Not only Flora is a very competent professional but also a very attentive advisor on a personal level. I would highly recommend Flora Mewies to anyone who requires legal assistance with a Tier 1 Exceptional Talent visa application.

Alexandra Afanasyeva

Independent verdict

"Very approachable and effective: they speak in layman's terms."

Chambers & Partners

"Instead of constantly hearing 'you', we are always hearing 'we' from Ward Hadaway."

Client quote, Chambers & Partners

“Lauded for its ‘expert knowledge, impressive ability and competitive rates’…”

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